Monday, January 30, 2017

This January the skies of L.A. have been jam-packed with returning fan-favourite TV shows, plus the arrival of new series trying to grab passersby attention and secure an audience. Here's a rounup of all the rookie show billboards, whether they be remakes of movies, TV spin-offs, comic book adaptations, or something entirely fresh and original.

TV billboards

To start though, here's a wonderfully bizarre New Year message from the folks at Adult Swim, who also seem to delight in bringing the quirkiest billboards to the city skyline.

Another explosive, psychedelic ad creative turning heads this month is the launch key art for FX's new X-Men universe series, Legion, starring Dan Stevens as a mutant with multiple personalities and a myriad of superpowers.
Another comic book adaptation coming to the small screen for his 75th anniversary is Archie in The CW teen mystery show, Riverdale. To help the freshman series stand out they had this fantastic neon sign billboard installation of the show's logo above the Whisky A Go-Go club along the Sunset Strip this month.

One of my favourite dramas of the last few years, The Good Wife, is getting a TV spin-off this year, with Christine Baranski's 'Diane Lockhart' and Cush Jumbo's 'Lucca Quinn' will be joined by Game of Thrones and Downtown Abbey's Rose Leslie for new legal and personal battles.

Meanwhile Christina Ricci stars as 'Zelda Fitzgerald' in Amazon's new 1920s period drama, Z: The Beginning of Everything, based on the novel by Therese Anne Fowler.

In the world of action television, the 24 franchise gets a revival spin-off with a new series 24: Legacy, with Corey Hawkins as the military hero trying to prevent a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

Over on NBC the Taken movie trilogy gets a TV prequel this season with Clive Standen playing a younger version of 'Bryan Mills' (played by Liam Neeson in the films).
And CBS brings another movie remake to the small screen with a new version of 2001's Training Day, this time with Bill Paxton as the crooked LAPD detective and Justin Cornwell as the rookie undercover cop.

Also this month Barry Sloane stars in the History mini-series about a Navy SEAL Team Six mission to eliminate a Taliban leader in Afghanistan.Amazon Studios continues to pump out more original content with Giovanni Ribisi in Sneaky Pete, a crime drama about a con man who assumes the identity of his prison cell mate in order to escape from a vicious gangster.

Bravo debuts another scripted drama this year with Imposters, a drama about a con woman who marries men and robs them off all their money, and their hearts.

This month I binge-watched all of Freeform's new sci-fi drama, Beyond, and it may be a bit formulaic but the story about a boy who wakes up from a twelve year coma with special abilities has a few surprises too.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events was already adapted for the big screen in 2004, but Netflix is giving the concept another chance with its new series starring Neil Patrick Harris as 'Count Olaf'.

Netflix was also giving some super-sized support to its new Guillermo del Toro created animated series Trollhunters this month along the Sunset Strip.

And speaking of new cartoons, Comedy Central had some more grown up fare in the form of Jeff & Some Aliens, spinning out of the animated sketch series TripTank.

Viceland was also bringing some new fun to the city skies with the Canadian mockumentary series Nirvana the Band the Show.

One Day at a Time is another sitcom being dusted off the shelf and finding new life at Netflix, this time the comedy which ran from 1975 to 1984 revolves around a Cuban-American family led by Justine Machado's 'Penelope'.

Over on NBC, DC Comics is venturing into superhero sitcoms with the new workplace comedy, Powerless, starring Vanessa Hudgens working at an insurance company helping regular humans in a world of super-powered heroes and villains.

Whilst funny guy and podcaster Pete Holmes soon gets an all-new comedy series on HBO called Crashing, about a comedian whose wife walks out on him for another guy.

Anthony Anderson escapes his Black-ish family to host the new Animal Planet talk show, Animal Nation, which will apparently feature celebrities and their pets, cute animal videos and of course lots of animals.

This month Jude Law was towering over the Sunset Strip as The Young Pope for the new HBO limited series.

And he was subsequently replaced by Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley (or the tops of their heads at least) for their new limited series, Big Little Lies.

Another giant-sized billboard turning heads along West Hollywood's Sunset Strip this January was this mind-bending ad creative for YouTube Red's original education series, Mind Field.

You can see from all these new shows there's just not enough time in the day to watch them all, so these billboards may be some help in choosing your next TV series wisely.

Come back next month for more snapshots of the billboards filling the streets and skies of L.A. and check out my Daily Billboard Blog every day for all the very latest ad creatives trying to catch your eye.